SYREETA: on the road

It’s a crisp winter afternoon in London. The temperature might have dropped recently, but today the sun still peers over the clouds. It’s a Sunday, and while the streets of Rotherhithe in South-East London stay relatively quiet, crowds have amassed early doors outside the former newspaper printing factory nowadays better known as Printworks. Five years since opening its doors as a club, the 6,000-capacity venue has become a benchmark in the capital, and today’s Elrow show is a sell out. Amongst a line-up that includes Adam Beyer, Marco Faraone and Ben Stirling is SYREETA. 

This year has been a landmark one for the Birmingham-born, London-based DJ. As a resident for the all-inclusive party He.She.They she’s played in London, Ibiza, Berlin and Amsterdam, and her demand across Europe has continued to grow. This summer she played 13 shows in Ibiza; as well as for parties such as Elrow, Music On, ANTS, Paradise and CircoLoco, her name has been cropping up on the festival circuit too, this year making her debut at Creamfields, Parklife, Lost & Found, Panorama Festival and Kappa Futur.

There has been tangible momentum for SYREETA, and although life seems relatively non-stop she beams copious amounts of energy. She enters the green room of Printworks with a smile; she’s arrived straight from the airport, returning from Malta where she played alongside Richy Ahmed and Neverdogs, and the night before it was He.She.They at Watergate in Berlin. “The gigs were amazing,” she beams. “I absolutely love Watergate, it’s one of my favourite places to play. I love the ‘no phone’ situation, it's the best because everyone just gets so involved in the music. I played two very different sets; I went quite techno for Watergate, then I went dark and deep for Malta.”

This is her second time playing at Printworks, and after her debut with ANTS back in March she’s familiar with the space, plus she’s well acquainted with playing for Elrow and knows their ethos and their crowd well. “I always keep it quite fun for Elrow. It’ll be fun and vibey, keep the energy going,” she says, when we talk about what to expect. “I love this venue. It’s going to be full of confetti this time,” she laughs.

Today it’s a family affair; as well as her tour manager and housemates, her cousin has come all the way from Birmingham, plus there are plenty of friends who have come out to support, and there’s a palpable buzz of excitement in the air. “I’m a vibey person, I’m not one to sit in the green room. I like to go out, get the vibe, listen to the music, hear the other DJ before I go on, then just get a vibe — so then I’m pumped and ready,” she says, as we travel through the endless corridors of Printworks and up into the booth. 

SYREETA is no stranger to nightclubs nowadays, but it wasn’t until she moved to London that she became fully immersed in the club culture of the capital. Born and raised in Birmingham, she was brought up listening to reggae, frequenting the local bars with her dad and then onto illegal house raves. “I did that for years and years. I was an athlete so I didn’t really party as much — I was quite dedicated to the sport. I didn’t drink, I did athletics, I was very grounded. That was the direction. I didn’t want any distractions, so I didn’t party too much in Birmingham. Then, when I stopped athletics and I came to London, it was a whole new world!” she laughs.

Earlier in the day we’d met up in the bustling Breakfast Club of Spitalfields in East London. It’s an old haunt of SYREETA’s, and she recounts the times that she would come here religiously before heading to Fuse. “It was the Mecca,” she says of the renowned Sunday parties founded by Enzo Siragusa. It was at venues like 93 Feet East that she began making a name for herself as a DJ, amongst other underground spots in East London. “I started quite minimal, so I did a lot of the Romanian minimal sound. I started there and I was in a bubble. I didn’t really go outside of that,” she admits.

In 2017 she was asked to be a part of the Smirnoff Equalising Campaign and things rapidly started taking off in her career; that summer she played festivals such as V, Park Life and Transmit, and it was a time that she began broadening the horizons in terms of her sound. “I’ve had to learn so much over a short space of time,” she muses, as she sips on a breakfast Mai Tai. “It’s only been five years but I'm still learning about all the types of house music that I can explore, and it’s been amazing.”

SYREETA is also no stranger to working long hours and hard graft. Her former years as a truck driver taught her well for the busy touring life on the road that she leads now. “I was at the job at 4am ready to leave the yard and go deliver. I was doing that until April just gone, I’ve only just stopped,” she admits. “It would be 12 hours on the road. I loved it, so what I’d do when I worked for different companies, I’d be like ‘Right, what's the system like? Where’s the speakers?’ So it was just me and Spotify and podcasts all day long. I was doing that in the week, then gigging on the weekends. I was fully nocturnal.” 

Her early inspirations include Maya Jane Coles, tINI and Anthea; independent artists that have all forged their own way, creating their own community through their music, parties and record labels. “They’re so authentic, and not trying to follow what anyone else is doing,” she says. When it comes to her own musical path, SYREETA strives to be individual and doesn’t want to be pigeon-holed. “Don’t ever put me in a box,” she says resolutely. Her sets journey between house and techno depending on who she’s playing alongside.

“That’s where you learn so much as well. Challenging yourself,” she says. “For each party that I play at, I still have my own sound within that sound. I’ll play for Defected but it’ll still be me playing, I won’t just play all the classics because it’s a Defected party or I won’t bang all those thumping techno tracks. I’ll still have my version, my version of techno that I listen to. I have to have authenticity myself,” she explains. 

Right now she’s been supporting an abundance of new and emerging producers in her sets, and it’s something she encourages strongly. The opportunity to test out upfront and unreleased tracks in front of worldwide audiences and large club spaces excites her. “I try to do that as much as possible,” she explains. “Especially with up-and-coming artists more than known artists as much as I can. I don’t know that feeling yet, as I have yet to have music out, but I can just imagine the feeling of someone who’s just made a track, and an artist that they look up to playing it. The feeling that they must get from that.

“It means nothing to us, you’re literally playing a track that you’re feeling, but to someone else that could be the absolute world, so I try to do that as much as possible,” she continues. “Just to show that you’re on the right path, because I’m playing your music — someone likes it, so keep going. I think quite deeply about it when I’m playing music. I like to do that.” 

SYREETA is a resident at He.She.They, the now globally recognised record label, fashion brand and queer party that pushes inclusivity, and it’s something that she’s truly passionate about. “100% it’s true to my heart, their ethos is everything that I support,” she says. “They’re changing the narrative. What other party goes into every country in the world, to their most popular club, and takes it over with all the weird and the wonderful? What other party does that and just doesn’t give a fuck? This is what we’re doing, this is what we’re bringing, and you’re going to love it — and everyone does. Now they’re a worldwide brand, they're everywhere, and I’m honoured to be part of it.”

2022 came with plenty of firsts for SYREETA, including an impressive run of shows in Ibiza across the season that included He.She.They’s debut at Amnesia, Paradise, ANTS at Ushuaïa, CircoLoco at DC-10, and a date with FISHER at Hï. “I’m still pinching myself about this year, I can’t believe it’s actually happened,” she says as her eyes light up. “I’ve been going to Ibiza for about 13 years. Music On, I was there when it started so that was like one of my massive ‘pinch-me’ moments. Music On at Amnesia, and Cocoon on Mondays. They would just go on for like 28 hours, and I just loved it. All through the afternoon and you’d be there at like 4pm still going. Absolutely insane.”

On Boxing Day of 2021 she shared the line-up with Marco Carola for the first time at a Shindig party in Newcastle. Her set was just before Carola; he came to greet her and not long after she’d finished her set, his tour manager declared that they’d like to invite her to play Music On. “If I could have done cartwheels across the stage at that moment I would have done,” she laughs. 

Like many other touring artists, life was very different for her two years ago, when the pandemic forced a whole nation inside. It was a time to re-evaluate everything during those moments of stillness. “That’s what I did. I used that time to find out who I was. What made me tick, what didn’t make me tick, where I wanted to be, and is this the right decision,” she says. “All sorts of things that you think of. It was meditation, mindfulness, and walks in the park that got me through. You’ve got nothing else to do in Covid but get up before the sun comes up, and go for a walk in the park — and watch the sunrise and hear the birds. It was like a whole new world that I want to keep going, and a lot of things like that have stuck with me.”

Nowadays SYREETA’s pre-gig rituals still resonate with those daily routines. “Sometimes you still get a bit of imposter syndrome,” she admits. “Breaths before I go on is essential. Literally sitting down, not speaking to anyone for five minutes, thinking of nothing. It’s the best way. You have no idea how deep breathing literally just takes away anxiety so much. It’s so simple.

”When you think of meditation it doesn’t have to be all like zen in the middle of a field with your legs crossed and for three hours not speaking. It‘s just five minutes of just nothingness,” she continues. “Just take five minutes out of your busy crazy mind, and just switch it off for five minutes and think of nothing, then go back to what you’re doing and you’ll be surprised how much that changes your whole day. Cold showers as well, they’re a must when touring. I can be in a cold shower for ages, it gets all my endorphins going. I do plunges, I'm a pro at cold water.”
 
We talk about what a day in the life of SYREETA during the week might look like. “Music searching, I spend hours listening to music,” she says. “I think that is it for my week. Being in nature, I love going for walks. I just love being in nature. Because of course mindfulness gives you that whole approach, that we’re all connected as well. We’re all connected to each other, us as humans, animals, the trees, we’re all connected. Just being present in the here and now. The future and the past doesn’t exist. It’s all about now.”

“Today is what’s happening. Sometimes I will just say to myself, ‘Today I’m just going to stay in bed. I’m going to relax, and chill out, I’m going to order good food, and I'm just not going to move. I’m just going to enjoy doing absolutely fuck all for this whole day’. You have to have moments like that, you don’t always have to be doing something all of the time. It’s also about giving your whole body and brain a rest from life. That is the most important, so when you do that, you can then take on all the other challenges and if you don’t, then it’s just going to catch up with you. Do something that makes you happy, you know what I mean? It changes everything.”

Now that the summer is over, weekdays have become more available, and the next focus for her is music making. “Where I’m at now, I’m finally making music that I want to play,” she reveals, somewhat excitedly. “But I also feel a lot of pressure as well, because if I’d have brought out tunes four years ago, it would have been fine, but I feel like because my name is a lot of places right now, and on a lot of line-ups and I haven’t released music, it’s almost like people are waiting to see what that first track is going to be. I have to take myself away from that and make sure that it’s authentic and that it’s what I want to bring out. I don’t care if no one else likes it, if I'm really happy with it, and if a few people like it then I’m winning.”

Sticking to your guns is important, she believes. “Don’t get caught up in that world of trying to please everyone else. You can get so caught up in that but it’s about how you bring yourself back into the now,” she says. Right now she’s ready to alleviate expectations and release music that she’s truly excited about. “It’s like when I play sets, I really hope that you love it as much as I do. Let’s go on this journey together. I think that is the beauty.”

At Printworks, in true Elrow style they’ve transformed the Press Hall into a psychedelic wonderland. Performers wade into the crowd on stilts, oversized props bounce their way into the distance, while the stage is laced with fairytale forest scenery and blow-up mushrooms. SYREETA has cultivated a wave of energy through the crowd; staying true to her intentions she delivers a jacking, bouncing house set with looping build-ups and weighty basslines. She has mastered the art of commanding a crowd, today delivering memorable moments and a few classics like ‘Brighter Days’ by Cajmere, as well as road-testing tracks from friends including Dutch producer Rayzir as confetti streams onto the dancefloor.

As we head back to the green room after her set, SYREETA is still riding high on the buzz that she felt as she stepped out of the booth. “I still get those feelings... I think I'll always have that feeling. Like, ‘I can't believe I'm playing this party’,” she says. “I’ll always get that excitement. I’m very into gratitude. I feel like if you’re grateful for the things that you have, more will come to you.” She pauses for thought. “This is just the beginning, and I’m not in a rush at all,” she says, discussing aspirations for 2023. “Everything is going to happen the way it’s supposed to happen. If certain things don’t come next year, then it’s ok. Be grateful for the stuff that has happened and just keep pushing forward. And I’m excited because I know it’s going to be good.”